Purpose
by Umbrae Calamitas
Summary: Xellos' resolve has been shaken by a realization and the words of a little boy. By orders of Beastmaster, he travels with Lina and company to find the human incarnation of the Lord of Nightmares. When they do, however, what is it Xellos will ask? Chap3Up!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Greeting, Slayers fans! Umbrae Calamitas, here! I decided that, after spending the last two weeks doing little else but watching Slayers and reading Slayers fanfiction, that I would write a fanfic of my own within that fandom. This is, of course, my first fanfic within the Slayers fandom, so please be kind. I hope you enjoy it and will grace me with your reviews, for they please me very much.

_Live long. Live well. Write._

_Umbrae Calamitas_

**Chapter One**

Everything that he once knew to be true was a lie.

So dark and cruel was the treachery of this world, his minions, his master, his own being, that he wanted nothing more than to be human for the sole reason that he could die. So that he could take his own life.

But he was a Mazoku, and so he was left within the darkness that suddenly seemed less comforting, less loving… far more malicious than it had ever been to his soul of a mirrored darkness.

But that wasn't true, was it? Not anymore.

Xellos gazed forlornly at his hands. His being was filled with a sorrowful confusion that he hadn't felt in… perhaps he had never felt like this before. No… no, he wasn't aware that it was even possible to feel these types of emotions.

Or _those_ types…

Her face came unbidden to his mind. Her pale flesh, like the whites of eyes that would never see beyond the death that consumed them; her hair, so fiercely golden that the locks were like the flames burning on the sun itself, reaching out to grip the world in an inferno of consuming fire. Her lips were red like blood… like blood that he has spilled. The blood of a thousand Golden Dragons.

But she, this one Golden Dragon, he could never touch.

Xellos closed his eyes, as if in pain. How was it that his life had come to this? He never would have thought that his heart could be so torn… that his heart could feel anything but the darkness he was so accustomed to.

He thought of his mistress, Zellas, the Beastmaster, his creator, his mother, the one who gave him life and who could, without a twitch of hesitation, take it away. At one time, she had been the most important thing to him, the most beautiful creature for anyone to have ever laid eyes on. Dark and dangerously gorgeous… untouchable, ever-wanted.

But now…

It scared Xellos that his mistress' beauty no longer came close in comparison to that of Filia Ul Copt.

"_Xellos…"_

He jerked upright at the voice, entering his mind without his knowing… how could he have been so distracted that he hadn't greeted her before she spoke? He was certain he was to be punished for that slip up… Mistress should never have to speak first.

The world around him flickered blackness, and for a moment, he found that he was frightened by it. The darkness burst around him, rushing forward as though to maul him, and he resisted the urge to cry out.

Just as soon as the darkness had stolen him, however, it released him, and he found himself in the chambers of his Mistress, as he had intended. He knelt before her, his head bowed low, trying to ignore the desire to shiver in fear at the darkness that permeated the very walls of this place he calls home.

"My lord, Beastmaster," he greeted, tearing his mind away from fears he should not be having. "Forgive my lax. My mind was… elsewhere."

He could almost _see_ Beastmaster raising her thin eyebrow at him in a curious mocking gesture. He heard her inhale a deep breath from a long cigarette, and amuse herself with blowing out a long, thin line of smoke.

"Indeed, my little one," she replied softly to Xellos, using the endearing term that she gave to her favorite children – one she rarely used on any but Xellos. Truthfully, none of them amused her as much as he was able to. "Tell me, my child… where was your mind when I first entered your consciousness?"

If he had been asked by anyone else, Xellos would have answered with his usual "That is a secret," but his mistress could not be fooled by such simple tricks, although he thought, on some level, that she enjoyed them. "I was thinking of… my past, Mistress," Xellos replied hesitantly, and he hated that he radiated his feelings so openly. Although what he spoke was not a lie, for he did not lie, to his mistress or anyone else, he found that the words were of a bitter taste as they slipped past his lips.

"Your emotions, my little one, are a buffet that I find does not satiate me. Pray tell, Xellos, what part of your past vexes you, as it has never done before now?"

Xellos opened his eyes, staring at the floor with amethyst irises radiating confusion, pain… regret? "I… I was considering the Golden Dragons, Mistress," he replied, and he knew she could taste every emotion that leaked from him like blood.

"The Golden Dragons," she repeated slowly, her voice not betraying the emotions she felt, and she had such a strange ability as to hide them from those weaker than her. Xellos could not read her, and it infuriated him, for he was unable to predict his fate.

"The Golden Dragons you destroyed during the War of the Monsters' Fall, my little one," she said softly, slowly… almost kindly, "or… one Golden Dragon in particular?"

Xellos felt his body jerk, his surprise bursting from his every pore like sweat. Beastmaster laughed, a high cackle that would have seemed out of place coming from anyone but her. That laugh, so fierce but so fitting, made her all the more beautiful.

But not as beautiful as his Filia.

Treachery. He would be killed for his insolence. How could her ever be so bold as to compare her, a simple Golden Dragon, to the lord of the Mazoku, his lord, his mistress, his mother, the Beastmaster? How _dare _he?!

"You are too hard on yourself, Xellos," she said softly, her voice gentle, fangs sheathed for the moment in silver scabbards. "Or perhaps, you judge me too fiercely?"

"No, my mistress," Xellos replied obediently. "You are perfection, my mistress."

He could feel her smile, and then he was enveloped in fondness. She permitted him to feel her enjoyment at his company, and her amusement at his confusion.

"My dear, dear Xellos," she said softly. "Are you so foolish as to believe we are so different from them?"

"Them, Mistress?" Xellos asked, unsure of what she meant, afraid to assume something and be mistaken… to be punished for his mistake as so many others had been punished before him.

"Yes, Xellos. Them. Do you know of whom I speak?"

Guessing was not an option. He could not afford to be mistaken. "No, Mistress," he replied sincerely.

"I am disappointed in you, Xellos." He winced. "You, my most prized, my favorite child, the _trickster priest_, as you so delicately refer to yourself. You, who are more intelligent than half of those who dare to challenge me. Xellos…"

"I apologize, Mistress," he replied sincerely, and waited to be struck down.

"My little one," she said softly, "you do not know your worth, and so I will give you a chance to understand it. Rise, my little one, my Xellos."

"Yes, Mistress," Xellos replied, and rose obediently to his feet. He raised his head and met her gaze with open eyes. He dared not be so coy with her, for she was his mother, his creator, and if she so wished it, his death.

"You are fond of the humans you often travel with, Xellos?" She did not look at him, but was preoccupied with lighting up another cigarette.

Xellos hesitated. He should answer truly, but at what cost?

Of course, the truth would cost less than lying to her.

"Yes, Mistress," he replied softly. "They… amuse me."

A small smile graced Beastmaster's lips. "I find that I, too, am amused by them, my little one. Humans are such… such interesting creatures. Don't you agree, Xellos?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"I have a mission for you, Xellos."

He perked a little at that. He didn't know where this conversation was going, and he found that such an unpredictable fate disturbed him. If he had a mission… it was easier to stay on his mistress' good side when he was following her orders. Even if he did, occasionally, manipulate the rules to his advantage.

"Yes, Xellos, and it will require that you travel again with your human… amusement." She smiled at him, baring canine teeth in a fashion that was both affectionate and predatory.

Xellos did not understand. Usually, he accompanied Lina and her companions because they were always in the midst of whatever darkness plagued the world. True, he often helped to lead – okay, _shove_ – them in the direction of such shadows, but they had a habit of drawing the darkness effectively into their own circles. Why then, would his mistress want him to travel with them – humans, creatures of a lesser species and a far shorter span of life? They were so different! So… so…

"I would also like the young Golden Dragon to accompany you on this quest," Beastmaster interjected his thoughts.

Xellos' mind faltered, his attempts to discover what his mistress intended thwarted by thoughts of the ex-priestess, Filia Ul Copt.

"My little one."

Xellos forced his mind to come back to the present, aware of his fear at having been ignoring his mistress' continued explanation. He dared to smile apologetically, and she seemed to overlook his mind's absence in favor of continuing.

"Do you know what year this is, Xellos?"

Xellos opened his eyes in surprise. "Mistress?"

"This is a special year, Xellos," Beastmaster continued. "It is one of the three-thousand year markers of this world's life. Do you know what this means, Xellos?"

He frowned, a rare and somewhat disturbing feature to find on his face. "No, Mistress."

"It means that this is the year that our Mother, the Lord of Nightmares, will take a human incarnation and come to our world. This will happen over the course of three nights, my little one." Xellos did not attempt to hide his shock. He hadn't known the Lord of Nightmares to do such a thing. Beastmaster seemed pleased by his shock. "I want you to go to her, my little one."

"Mistress?" Xellos asked. "You want me to find… the Lord of Nightmares?" His confusion dared him to ask. "Why?"

She smiled in sincere amusement. "That, my little one, is a secret."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **I would like to thank everyone who took an interest in this story, and I am pleased to see that it has gotten so many wonderful reactions. Because I am so pleased, I have decided to update early. Yay! So here you all are, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the first. Please review, as reviews please me greatly, make me very happy, and have me updating soon. Enjoy this chapter, and all the wonder of Xellos!

_Live long. Live well. Write. _

_ Umbrae Calamitas_

**Chapter Two**

"_Are you… an angel?"_

Xellos couldn't help but shiver at the memory of the words. They did not hurt him, as some words of a positive nature did, but they stole away his certainty, his understanding.

They had been the first of the stones… those that started the avalanche and lead to what he considered to be his fall from darkness.

He had been following Lina and her companions for no other reason than that his mistress had been lacking in interesting tasks for him to accomplish and he was rather bored, and somewhat hungry. As always, he enjoyed the level of amusement he got from the strange band of warriors, and the varying array of emotions he could elicit gave him a variety of delicacies to choose from.

He had been in luck to find that Lina was in the mood to kill bandits. Well, when wasn't she in the mood? But the best part was that there were bandits around to be killed, and their fear was so delectable when they realized who it was that they were facing. Even Lina's fury at being called a "flat-chested half-grade witch" couldn't match up to the delicious fear flowing from the souls of fifty or so worthless humans.

The bandits, as it were, had kidnapped a small family and were torturing them for the fun of it, and because they hoped to gain a ransom from the nearby town, which was too poor to pay any sort of ransom, and far too weak to fight for the lives of those that had been captured. However, they had promised a free night's stay at the inn and meals if Lina and her company would rescue the family and defeat the bandits. Naturally, any deal with food somewhere within it was a go for Lina Inverse. Xellos decided to tag along in hopes of a meal of his own.

What he got was something he had not been expecting.

Lina and her company defeated the bandits with little problem, as was to be expected. They had then turned to the family to heal those who had been injured enough that they were unable to move.

Young Amelia was very adept in her healing skill and had the weak and bleeding mother swiftly on the mend, as Lina used her lesser-skilled powers in White Magic to help the far less-injured father.

He supposed he shouldn't have gone so close, but he couldn't help it. He was drawn to the boy by something that he couldn't quite fathom. Perhaps it had been the fact that, despite his complete lacking of physical injuries, the boy was staring into the sky as though he were dead, and the fear that radiated from his soul was unlike any that Xellos had ever tasted. It was plentiful, flowing like a river, an ocean, a _world_ of fear from such a small source, and it tasted _so_ different.

Normal fear, that which Xellos frequently fed on after scaring the children of a small town while passing by, or that of a man or woman after they were visited by "a ghost," was soft, sweet, and gentle on the tongue.

When Xellos tasted the boy's fear, it was not soft, but consuming. It was beyond taste, beyond anything. It was as though Xellos were tasting pure chaos, and he let it slide past his lips and devour him even as he devoured it. It was euphoria, ecstasy, enlightenment, and even when he had devoured it all, he felt it still. And when he realized that he had eaten all of the fear radiating from the boy, he realized something else, as well; something that shook him to his core at fitfully as the boy's words to him.

He was full.

"Gourry, that's _my_ meatball!"

"No way, Lina! This one is mine!"

"Give it back, you jellyfish-brain!"

"NEVER!"

Xellos teleported into an inn at its lowest point in history. Many inns in the past had faced this same sad downfall. It was a curse, really: the horrid and untreatable, unpreventable appetite of Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev.

"Why, hello there!" Xellos declared cheerfully, giving a pleasant little wave as he kept his eyes closed. He amused himself by nibbling on the feelings of frustration emanating from Lina as she lunged for the meatball. She got it, of course, as Gourry was mildly frightened by the fierce look that he had seen on her face, similar to the one that appeared right before she cast the Dragon Slave.

"Xellos," Lina said, after successfully devouring the meatball and trumpeting her victory to the skies. "What are you doing here?"

"What?" Xellos asked innocently. "Can't I come and visit my favorite sorcery genius for no reason at all?"

"No," Lina replied suspiciously. "You don't often show up for no reason at all."

Gourry was tapping his index finger to his chin in what appeared to be a less-painful-than-usual thought process. "Didn't he show up for no reason at all the other day, Lina?" he asked innocently, as was his way. "You know, when we fought all the bandits and saved that family?"

Xellos' face darkened. He had been trying to forget about that.

"Oh yeah!" Lina declared, slamming her fist into her palm in realization. "I forgot about that. Hey, Xellos, what was up with leaving like you did?"

Xellos forced a laugh and a smile, opening one eye and waggling his index finger at her. "Now, now, Lina," he said mysteriously. "You know that is a secret."

Lina rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, putting her hands behind her head. "Yeah, yeah, Xellos, just like everything else. So what're you doing here? Did ya miss me?"

"Of course I did!" he declared, grinning at her. "After all, I have to come back every so often just to make sure that you're still the same flat-chested sorceress you've always been."

He vanished into a cloud of darkness just in time to avoid being hit with Gourry and the chair he was sitting in. He reappeared behind Lina and just managed to keep from staggering. He hadn't been thinking… the darkness… it had called forth that fear in him again.

Lina's rage was in the air, burning like the fire her hair pleaded to be. He tasted her fury, glad to have something to melt his fear. Why was he so afraid of the darkness?

"XELLOS!" Lina shrieked, her burst of rage feeding him, calming the fear. Still, he would have to try to avoid teleporting through those dark shadows…

"Now, now Lina," he said. "You're going to have to do something about that temper of yours."

Lina released a rather wolf-like growl, much to Xellos' amusement, and he settled down into a chair, summoning a teacup out of nowhere. He sipped delicately.

"Why are you here, Xellos?" Lina growled.

He smiled at her. "I have a mission for you, Lina Inverse," he said, smiling as always. "One that I think you and all of your companions," He glanced at the silent Zelgadis in particularly, "will be interested to accept."

"Oh?" Lina asked, doubting that she would find it interesting at all. "And what would that mission be?"

Xellos graced her with a chill as he opened his violet eyes. "Simple, Lina," he said, smirking. "It is a quest to meet the Lord of Nightmares."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Many thanks to my readers and especially to Mel, who has reviewed both the first and second chapter so far

**Author's Note: **Many thanks to my readers and especially to Mel, who has reviewed both the first and second chapter so far. I'm pleased that everyone seems to enjoy it, and now I hope you will enjoy this chapter, as well.

**Chapter Three**

Lina's first reaction had been to beat Xellos over the head with the bone of whatever meat she had been eating. The creature had been large and sturdy, for Xellos' head still ached. He hadn't wanted to teleport away, for fear of traveling once again through those damned shadows, and so he had rushed to quell her assumptions that he wanted the world destroyed.

Their shock had been amusing, and a nice snack. He was certain that his mistress had thought the same of his emotions when she had told him of the Lord of Nightmares' three-day incarnation.

He had been right, as was often the case: Lina hadn't needed much persuading to take on the mission. Even if she had refused the first time, Zelgadis would have eventually swayed her decision. Xellos knew why he wanted to go. The search for a cure had turned up little. If anyone could return the golem's body to normal, the Mother of All Things would be the one.

He had stayed at the inn with them that night, something that shocked them. Xellos found this amusing. True, he usually did vanish to the Astral Plane while they slept, but he couldn't bring himself to enter the darkness of his teleportation void any more than he had to.

And he'd be damned if he told them that!

He spent most of the night lying on the roof of the inn, studying the star-filled sky and considering that incident a few days before… the day that everything seemed to change.

"_Are you… an angel?"_

The words brought him pain. It was not like the pain that the upbeat princess' vicious positive singing brought him, but a pain that entered his soul and dug furiously at all that he had once thought to be true. How could the boy have thought him to be an angel? Xellos was a Mazoku – he was a monster!

And he had been full…

In all of the thousands of years that he had lived, Xellos had never once been full. It was not something that he had ever experienced before; something that he didn't even know was possible. Mazoku fed off of the negative emotions of all creatures, but their thirst was unquenchable, or so he had thought. But that boy… his fear had been so different, and _filling_.

"All right, Xellos. What's this about?"

Xellos had to admit, even he was impressed. Lina Inverse was forsaking a moment of gorging herself to question his motives. He wished he had more to taunt her with, but he could boast little in his current state. His mind was so wrapped around what had recently occurred and how his view of the world had been changed into utter confusion, he had little strength to spend on tricks and word games. At a later date, he would probably look back on this day with regret, but at this point, he couldn't care less whether they looked at him with shock or confusion. He had his own reasons for wanting to reach the Lord of Nightmares. He needed to understand. He needed to know the truth.

"You seek answers," he replied, his eyes open as he gazed at her. "The Lord of Nightmares can provide those answers. Unless you intend to remain alive for the next three thousand years, this is your only chance in this life." He raised an eyebrow. "Are you willing to take it, Lina?"

She looked insulted that he had to ask. "Of course!" she declared. "I'm just wondering how this fits in with one of your schemes. After all, you've done nothing so far but manipulate us to your will. What makes this time so different?"

A shadow passed across his face and he swiftly closed his eyes before Lina or the others could detect the uncertainty within his soul. "That," he said, gaining back a little of his flare, despite the circumstances, "is a secret."

"Mommy!"

Filia turned to see him running toward her, the last ancient dragon left alive on this earth. Small, with pale flesh and soft turquoise hair and hung down like rivulets of water around his shoulders, his run toward her was staggering, his form continuously thrown off-balance by the great black-feathered wings on his back.

His oversized wings spread in surprise when he stumbled, trying desperately to catch air and keep him aloft. He released a cry, only to have it muffled by Filia's garb, as she caught him in her arms.

"Hush now, Val," she whispered soothingly, rubbing her fingers gently through his downy turquoise hair. "What is it, Val?"

Val's tiny fingers reached out, clutching at her clothing in a desperate attempt to blend into her and hide from the world. He buried his face against her chest and Filia could feel his tears soaking through her clothes, warm against her flesh.

"What's wrong, Val?"

He sniffled loudly and said something muffled against her.

"Val?" she whispered softly, and sank to her knees to hold him tighter. In response, he pushed himself away far enough to look up into her face pleadingly.

"Mommy," he said softly, "am I a freak?"

Those words caused a pain in Filia she wasn't aware that she could feel.

"No, Val," she said, more sternly than she had intended. "No, you are not a freak. Where did you get that idea?"

He reached up and wiped the back of his hand across his face, effectively smearing snot and tears down his cheek. "Koranus… at the playground." He fell forward into Filia's embrace, burying himself deep within her arms. "He said… he said normal people don't have wings, Mommy… and that I'm a freak."

Filia soothed his hair, holding him against her. "You're special, Val," she said softly in his ear, "very special. That is why you have wings."

"Really?" he asked, his face still pressed against her chest.

She nodded. "Yes, Val. When you get older and learn to control your powers, you will be able to hide your wings, if you _want_ to." She kissed his forehead softly, wiping away his tears with her thumbs as she stared deep into his trusting eyes. "You were given a second chance, Val," she whispered. "Someday, I'll explain what that really means, but for now, all you need to know is that you are special." She kissed his forehead again. "Will you remember that, Val?"

Val raised his head and looked into her eyes, his eyes filled with the trust that only a child could hold. "Yes, Mommy," he promised. "I'll remember."

"Good, Val," she said quietly. "Now, off to bed with you. We have a special day tomorrow." She smiled. "A special day, for a very special boy."

Val offered her a smile of true happiness, before turning and staggering-running off to bed, his oversized wings held aloft, tears dried.

Filia watched him go, a soft smile on her own lips. After the events that had occurred during the destruction of Dark Star, Filia thought that her life would have held less of a meaning for her. She had been pleasantly disappointed, however, for it was the rebirth of Valgaav that gave her purpose. She had been born, she realized now, so that she could care for the last ancient dragon. The very reason for her existence was not only to redeem her race for the injustices they had done to the ancient dragons, but to give love and happiness to the last of their kind, to the one who had been pained the most by her people's actions. She was not to blame for what had been done to the ancient dragons, but she would redeem the golden dragons, just the same.

"My dearest Val," she whispered into the silence of their home, "in this dark and chaotic world, you are my shining light. My little Valteira." She smiled softly at the very thought of him, and with a happy heart for what the future had in store, she closed her shop for the night, and went to sleep.

"Where are we going, Mommy?"

Filia looked down at her son, his tiny fingers held gently within her grasp. "Somewhere very special," she replied, and watched a smile dance upon his lips. He gave a light-hearted skip, his wings fluttering in excitement, as he followed her down the road.

Today was his birthday, Mommy had told him. He had hatched on this day four years ago, and his life had been filled with nothing but happiness and smiles ever since that day. When he went to sleep at night, sometimes he dreamed of fire and lights that were bright and dark at the same time. Sometimes he woke up crying out, afraid and not knowing why, but his mommy was always there to pick him up and hold him in her arms. She always told him that everything would be okay, and, of course, it always was.

"Ooh, Mommy! Lookit!" His hand slipped from hers as he rushed forward, staggering under the thwarting weight of his massive wings. "Lookit, Mommy! Roses!"

He dove for the bed of blood red flowers, his wings spreading open on instinct to soften his descent. He glided softly on an unconscious wind, landing on the outskirts of the flower bed. He reached forward and touched the velvety petals of the roses, careful not to touch the stems, for fear of pricking his fingers on the many thorns that protected their vulnerable necks.

He twisted his head and looked back with a grin, watching his mother walk over with a small smile on her face. "Roses, Mommy!" he declared, his face nearly in pain for the grin that decorated it. "They're so pretty!"

"Yes, they are," Filia agreed, and knelt down next to him. Gently, she reached forward and picked a single rose, breaking the thorns from its long, elegant stem, before handing it to him.

Val took it in his tiny hands and pressed the blossom to his nose, inhaling the sweet scent deeply, closing his eyes against it. He sighed in contentment, and Filia could do little but thank the world for this little boy and the joy he brought her.

Her thoughts, however, were cut short by the crude laugh that jolted even young Val from his flowery thoughts. "Mommy?" he pleaded in a fearful whisper.

"Hush, Val," Filia whispered, rising to her feet and pulling Val to his feet, as well. She pushed him behind her body protectively, feeling the rose pressed against her leg as he clung fearfully to her dress.

"Well, well, if it isn't two dragons, come to offer themselves as a snack. How… _kind_." The last word was spat in mocking contempt, and Filia didn't have to think too hard on what species the creature held.

"What do you want, Mazoku?" she snapped, trying to locate the origin of the voice.

"Ah, feisty, aren't we, dragon?"

Filia was never more aware of Val's presence, his face pressed tightly against the back of her legs. He was releasing soft whimpering sounds of fear, and she knew that if she was attacked, she would have little defense against a Mazoku. If only…

"I'm here for the little dragon," the Mazoku snarled, and Filia had to admit that although she hated the fact, she wasn't surprised. After all, Val was the last of the ancient dragons. It only made sense that there were those who wished he didn't exist at all.

"He's not yours to take," she snapped in reply, reaching back and gripping Val's tiny hand in her own.

"Oh, but it will be," the Mazoku replied, and the air before her shimmered like heat as the creature appeared. It disgusted Filia that he could refer to Val as an "it." She narrowed her eyes dangerously at the creature that appeared, tall and slender, with long silver hair and fierce green eyes. Dressed completely in red leather, a thorn-covered whip in one hand, the other equipped with five talisman rings.

Filia took a step back, aware that surprise and fear must have been radiating off of her like a feast. Val's large black wings curled around her form, the feathers soft against her flesh, but each quaking with a tiny portion of his fear.

"Poor little dragons," the Mazoku laughed. "Give in and I will end it quickly." He smiled, feline-fangs glinting. "Or we can take it slow, make it that much more fun." Those fierce green eyes glinted crimson. "I care neither way. It will be a feast for me, nonetheless."

In one swift motion, Filia took a step out of Val's fearful embrace and reached down, yanking her mace from the strap on her leg. She raised it above her head angrily, letting out a warcry as she swung it downward.

She heard a shriek behind her, as the Mazoku's whip flew out, wrapping its long tail around the mace and down Filia's arm. The thorns sank deep into her flesh and Filia felt hot blood running down her arms. She grit her teeth to keep from crying out, as every wound burned as though they were stuck with hot pokers and not thorns.

_Poison,_ she thought desperately, and it didn't surprise her. She closed her eyes against the pain, aware of Val's crying in the background, his screams of fear. Val… she had to protect Val… Valteira… her son…

A spark, like a fire only bigger, brighter, a giant firework, exploded inside of her. Her eyes flared open, white and glowing, as the transformation was ignited. Pale flesh became golden, fingers became talons, her back split to unleash great leathery gold wings.

She felt the fire burning in her. She should have guessed that the poison would have been prepared to deal with a dragon; that her transformation would have only amplified its explosion through her bloodstream. She unleashed a roar of anger, pain, fear, and she felt another fire, deep within her throat. Aware of Val still standing behind her, she opened her mouth and released a stream of flames at her opponent.

The Mazoku cried out, flinging his arms up to protect himself. He had underestimated her, expecting the poison to take immediate effect upon her transformation. He couldn't understand her love for Val, her need to protect her son. He wasn't fast enough to teleport away from her, and the fires of her dragon breath burned through his physical body, into his astral form, sinking deep into his core and igniting the very darkness of his creation with the flames of light. He released a death cry of unrivaled proportions, before succumbing to chaos and drifting into the shadows of her eternal embrace.

Filia closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of her dragon form fading, replaced by the burning of her blood, an agony that coursed through her entire being. She couldn't prevent a cry of despair from escaping her lips at the thought of what would happen to her dear Val, as she fell back.

_Warmth_.

Arms curled around her.

_Feathers_.

She opened her eyes. The world was a blurry dance of confusion, light, and darkness. The first thing she saw was Val, standing to her left, his beautiful black feathers brushing against her skin, warming the flesh that felt so cold in comparison to the burning blood within her.

"Val…" she whispered weakly.

"Mommy," he said, sniffling.

She tried to smile, tried to lift a hand to dry his tears. "Don't cry," she whispered. "My little one," she soothed, "don't cry." She closed her eyes as a wave of agony consumed her.

"Mommy!"

"Filia…"

_That voice…_

She forced her eyes open again, daring to wonder… to believe…

Violet eyes gazed down at her, open on one of those rare occasions that had all who witnessed it stumped or fearful. They were filled with an emotion foreign to them… _concern_? Purple hair hung down, framing that beautiful pale face, too gorgeous… too forbidden to be human.

She felt the burning sensation leaving her, or perhaps she was just leaving everything behind. Her body felt so heavy, weighed down by her eyelids alone. The world grew dark around her, until she saw only his tender face, and felt only feathers.

"Filia!" Other voices, crying out her name. Such familiar voices… friends, companions…

"Filia!"

"Mommy!"

"Filia!"

The darkness moved in like high tide, consuming her as a wave consumed the sand. One thought entered her mind, one word escaping her tired lips.

"Xellos…"


End file.
